Navy scientists at SPAWAR Pacific are developing a way to recharge unmanned undersea vehicles (UUV)s using wireless technology. (Image courtesy of U.S. Navy.)

Having trouble finding a charging station for your hybrid or electric car on a long road trip? Try tasking an unmanned undersea vehicle to recharge itself at an underwater gas station.

The UUVs the Navy uses for underwater surveillance to detect mines and map the ocean floor must rely on operators to recharge batteries at a land base or a surface ship. Both methods expose the warfighter and impose limitations on remote autonomous operations.

“Unmanned and autonomous systems are used extensively for Navy missions and will continue to play a large role in future Navy and joint scenarios,” said Dr. Alex Phipps, chief of the advanced integrated circuit technology branch at SSC Pacific. “While most of these systems are able to perform their mission without human interaction, limitations in the amount of power that can be stored place a limit on the overall system autonomy.”

Wayne Liu, an SSC Pacific project manager developing wirelessly charged undersea and aerial platforms, initially demonstrated the submerged charging capability using his own phone several years ago as a proof-of-concept experiment. Several feet below the surface, his phone rested in a plastic bag on a charging pad. The demo was a success, as Liu left with a few more battery bars. Development of these systems has improved significantly since that time, and the researchers are now advocating for the creation of a guiding set of standards for these underwater wireless power transfer devices.

“This type of technology is going to widen the array of missions the Navy can use UUVs for,” said Dr. Graham Sanborn, an engineer in Phipps’ group. “Having a UUV that can travel long distances gathering intel from ports and areas of the world our surface ships and underwater craft typically can’t go is going to increase the effectiveness of them. It’s also going to make missions safer, because service members will no longer need to accompany the machine, potentially into harm’s way. It’s a safer, more cost-effective option that we’re really excited about.”

Learn more about this capability and another UUV project from Phipps below (Video courtesy of SPAWAR Pacific):

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All information regarding non-federal, third party entities posted on the HDIAC website shall be considered informational, aimed to advance the Department of Defense (DoD) Information Analysis Center (IAC) objective of providing knowledge to the Government, academia, and private industry. Through these postings, HDIAC’s goal is to provide awareness of opportunities to interact and collaborate. The presence of non-federal, third party information does not constitute an endorsement by the United States DoD or HDIAC of any non-federal entity or event sponsored by a non-federal entity. The appearance of external hyperlinks in this publication and reference herein to any specific commercial products, processes, or services by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or HDIAC. HDIAC is a DoD sponsored IAC, with policy oversight provided by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (ASD (R&E)), and administratively managed by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). For permission and restrictions on reprinting, please contact publications@hdiac.org. Any views or opinions expressed on this website do not represent those of HDIAC, DTIC, or the DoD.